ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A dozen guards were held hostage 35 years ago during one of the nation’s deadliest prison riots. Some were brutally beaten and sexually assaulted as rioting prisoners killed 33 fellow inmates during a clash that included beheadings, amputations and burned bodies.
Now, New Mexico lawmakers are considering compensation for those correctional officers who are still alive and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee heard the emotional account of Lawrence Lucero, one of only two officers who managed to escape in the opening hours as inmates rushed the control center at the Penitentiary of New Mexico on Feb. 2, 1980.
Lucero recalled seeing one man being dragged away with a belt around his neck. Another had his head bashed in while Lucero and another correctional officer watched helplessly from behind bullet-proof glass that the inmates eventually shattered with metal pipes.
“The fire, the screams, the torturing of people, it’s just something not even a movie could prepare you for. It’s just something beyond this world,” said Lucero, who was 25 at the time.